Old black and white movie (1940-1950'S)?

Ive been searching for a particular movie for 40 years! I watched it as a kid. Old black and white movie set in 1940's-1950's about a community that was hit with an epidemic in which people and kids were dying. It was about a boy and his relatiionship with his father. The father thought the boy lied to to him about something I can't recall, and he gave the boy a spanking that he did not deserve. The boy I think got sick too. Anyone remember this movie? Boy was about 10-12 years old. Maybe the epidemic was polio, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, not sure.